


The Utonium Trials

by Ergoemos



Category: Powerpuff Girls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - SciFi, Angst, Existentialism, Old Fic-Rework, Serious Take on Cartoon, mature themes, universe expansion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-21
Packaged: 2018-06-03 16:57:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6618751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ergoemos/pseuds/Ergoemos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Professor is on trial for the creation of the Powerpuff Girls, who haven't physically aged at all since they were born four years ago. How will Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup cope with being considered as monsters by the rest of the world and with the law against them?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The City of Townsville

**Author's Note:**

> Author's foreword: This story is complete, but it is not "Finished", so to speak. The 'completed' works can be found on the old ff.net, but I am posting the story here as I update and rewrite it. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for the time you spend reading. As a warning, a lot of individual canon has been ignored for consistency and power-level sake. And if anyone is reading this after the newest series drops, this was written as fanfiction of the 1998 to 2005 five show. 
> 
> Always feel free to leave a comment, I do love feedback, and I think the slightly more adult audience of AO3 might enjoy the work a little more than most of the fans of FF.net.

A fanciful - almost melodic - humming filled the room as Bubbles vocalized the tune she heard in her head as she drew. She was lying on her stomach, down at the foot of her and her sister's bed, as she carefully outlined the shape of the kitty she was drawing. She felt the animal of the day was definitely feline. She wasn't sure yet what kind. So she started with a house cat and might move on to a lion or maybe an ocelot. If she had time, she would draw until it came to her.

"Bubbles, stop making so much noise! I am trying to work here!" Buttercup snarled as she gazed at the desktop computer shared by the three of them, a gift and privilege given to the girls by the Professor on their last birthday. She quietly tapped a few letters, stared at the screen a moment, before erasing her meager progress with an annoyed tapping of the backspace key.

Bubbles stopped her humming and her drawing to look at her relatively dour sister. "I'm sorry, dear sister, for slowing your work to please your adoring fans." She returned to the kitty, starting make lighter outlines for the stripes on cat. Buttercup "hmph"-ed and clacked a few more words. Bubbles continued with a small smile on her face, "All seven of them."

Buttercup growled and started to defend herself, "Hey, my stories have over a hundred fans each! They are wait-" Bubbles interrupted before she could get too testy.

"Relax, relax! I was just joking with you, Buttercup. I am didn't mean to-"Bubbles leapt to her feet suddenly, interrupting herself, "Mailman's here!"

She heard him a block away, tuning out the rest of the neighborhood. Learning how to selectively tune their hearing was one of the first talents she and her sister had mastered. Bubbles would otherwise be constantly bothered by the sounds of sparrows and squirrels arguing or by new baby girl of the young couple across the street. She blurred out of the room and down the stairs into the home's entrance hall, flying most of the way.

A second was all it took for her to travel the length of the house, passing the living room where Blossom was sitting on the couch studying some subject. Bubbles opened the front door and paused to look out at the world.

She gazed out at the sunny, glorious Saturday afternoon. She could smell the fresh air. She could see some neighborhood kids down the street. She could feel that there was nothing wrong in the city right now. It was almost second nature anymore, knowing when the city was in trouble. Strolling peacefully down the sidewalk to the street and to their mailbox, the blonde Powerpuff girl waited patiently for Mr. Mailman.

She had met the mailman at the mailbox every day for the last two years, except when she was fighting the next threat to Townsville. She knew that Mr. Derrick Sanders has delivered mail for ten years. He has been married for seven. He and his wife, whom he met in the sorting room of Townsville Post Office, had a daughter who was six years old and just entering the first grade, two grades behind the Bubbles and her sisters. He was driving up now, stopping at the house just before the Professor's, but she could see his grin through the windshield of the mail-truck. Bubbles grinned back.

He drove up and stopped at their mailbox, "Hello, Bubbles!" he jovially exclaimed, as he searched for their mail.

Bubbles cheerfully replied, "Hello, Mr. Mailman! How are you?" Six months ago, Bubbles had tried to call him "Mr. Sanders". She thought it sounded more adult than just "Mr. Mailman". His reaction to her new name for him had been dramatic. He looked shocked, and asked if everything was alright and if she was okay. She returned to calling him Mr. Mailman the day following.

Bubbles didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

"Good as always, Bubbles. No troubles in the city today?" He smiled, as he finally found their mail, and handed it to the blue clad Powerpuff girl.

She took the three envelopes, and gave an honest answer, "Nope, nothing yet. But we are always ready for trouble if it comes! Thanks for the mail! Have a good day!" She waved to him as he rolled forward again, moving to the next house.

She flicked through the mail as she walked towards the front door. There was an envelope with the logo of a magazine on it, trying to get them to subscribe again. There was a thank-you letter from a bike shop, which they saved from a giant ogre monster a week or so ago.

The last letter, however, was strange. It was far dourer than the usual mail they usually got. The manila envelope was addressed to the Professor and came from someone named Daniel Mitternach. His title was Chief of Police! He was from Citysville?

Bubbles closed the door behind her, her gaze not leaving the envelope. She could hear Blossom ask softly, "Anything interesting today?" as she turned another page in the textbook.

Bubbles blinked and looked up, now able to see her sister, settled on the couch. "The Professor got mail from the Chief of Police… of Citysville." Blossom stopped highlighting some passage in the textbook, and the distant clack of keys stopped coming from above. After a moment of comprehension ticked off, there was a soft "whoosh" and a green shape, as Buttercup appeared downstairs, standing before Bubbles.

Her emerald-eyed sister looked at her impatiently and said, "Well? Read it. What does it say?" They all remembered that fateful two days they spent in the town of Citysville. None of them remembered it with any kind of pleasure. It was the only place their powers were banned by law. Whatever came from Citysville could not be good news.

Blossom spoke up, "Tampering with the mail is a federal offense, Buttercup." Blossom was always mindful of keeping her sisters out of trouble. She had closed the text book she was reading, a third grade English book, and stared at the pair of them, to demonstrate she was serious.

Buttercup waved her off, saying, "I didn't say open it. Use your x-ray vision, Bubbles. Or have you forgotten how again?" Buttercup would never let Bubbles live down the time she forgot she could see through walls and stuff while she pestered the Professor about what gifts were under the Christmas tree.

Bubbles still maintained that not using her x-ray had made opening the gifts far more exciting.

Still, Bubbles frowned and tilted her head back, not going to take such sass without comment, "Of course not! I was just checking to see if you remembered." And as if to prove the point, she lifted the envelope in front of her eyes, flat, so it was easiest to read.

She had just about gotten to where she could read the first line when Blossom flew over and snatched the envelope from her grasp Blossom levitated about three feet above them as Bubbles crossly said, "Hey, I nearly had it!"

The rosy-eyed leader of the sisters looked down at the pair of them, "Yes, but we shouldn't be snooping in on his business. He works hard enough and we agreed to make his life as easy as possible, right? That includes not reading private mail."

Bubbles and Buttercup looked at each other. The green one sighed, "All right, all right. We will give it to him when he comes out for dinner." Buttercup floated back upstairs, while Blossom landed, handing the letter back to her blue sister.

"Put it on the kitchen countertop, we will give it to him later."

Bubbles nodded in response to her pink sister's words and drifted in the direction of the kitchen. Her bright mood was returning rather quickly as she remembered that she had secreted away three cookies at the back of the pantry just for herself. She absentmindedly threw the mail onto the counter and started towards the door to their small, but well-stocked, pantry. 'Now, where were those cookies', she pondered as she searched through the boxes and containers in the food closet.

Bubbles had only settled back where her art sat unfinished, the trio of cookies in hand, when the hotline beeped its clarion call. She put down the drawing pencil. With a mental sigh she looked to the jaguar she had just started. She already felt it wasn't the animal of the day anyway. From downstairs, she heard Buttercup's eager cry of, "Another monster is attacking the town!" and the sound of her sisters speeding off.

Only a moment behind her sisters, she zoomed out of one of the open windows in their room. She had to fly a bit faster than usual cruising speed to catch up. She was quick enough to catch them before her sisters got three blocks away. They were only halfway to the center of the town when they saw it.

Whatever it was, it had crawled… No. It had rolled its way up from the harbor. That was not new, she had seen monsters with wheel-like appendages, or even entire monsters shaped like spheres. This one definitely was the second type.

From what Bubbles could see, it looked like a massive ball of snakes. The snakes looked like they were eight or so feet wide each and their coils were so tangled up and knotted that she couldn't figure out where one snake started and the next ended. It might not even end. Maybe it was all connected to some center. The entire mass barely fit between buildings on the five lane street. It was rolling slowly but unimpeded, simply crushing entire cars beneath its coils. As it rolled, its many heads flattened in front as the heads in the back lifted again to observe its surroundings. At any given moment, there were seven or eight heads up and looking around. It was making good progress, already a mile from the coast.

Bubbles didn't have much time to examine the beast however, as the heads were snapping at the fleeing citizens of Townsville. The girls had to act. Blossom shouted out her orders in fast succession, "Buttercup-stop-and-disable-the-heads-Bubbles-try-to-slow-it-down-I-am-going-to-get-people-out-of-here!" And they broke apart, each to their respective tasks.

The blonde girl raced to the "front" of the snake thing, its sides scraping the buildings on each side as it moved further into the town. Bubbles wasn't sure she would be able to stop the thing. It was massive and, unlike two legged monsters, it really couldn't lose its balance and fall over. She could see from here that the scales on the monsters were not really scales. They seemed to be able to move independently of each other and would push off of walls and the ground to move forward.

Bubbles remembered she had a job to do beyond monster watching. She zoomed to a spot about one block in front of the thing. Facing the monster, the azure hero pushed forward, flying in the standard flight pose: fists forward and looking straight at her target. There was a lot of momentum she could build in a block's distance. She hit one of the many coils, going subsonic, about the speed of a jet airliner.

Had Bubbles had a choice, she would have preferred to hit a brick wall. She could get through brick walls, even most metal walls. Whatever the monster was made of, it had about a foot of give, before all her momentum was absorbed. The recoil was painful, her elbows bucking and her shoulders ached fiercely.

The blow knocked the breath from her lungs and she bounced off of the scales. She was stunned for half a second but recovered far before she hit the ground, just before one of the undulating snake heads open mouth full of sharp needle teeth could close on her. She zipped away, giving herself a block of space to think.

Breathing hard, Bubbles frowned at the monster, which had the courtesy of being at least slowed by the sudden impact. Of course, its de-acceleration could also have been because of Buttercup, who was darting, lightning fast, amongst the heads, giving the occasional smack when one got too close. Blossom was carrying away a sedan filled with kids and their parents. With a blink, Bubbles didn't spare any more time looking to her sisters. She gave herself another block to charge, as the monster even now recovered and was accelerating forward.

This time, Bubbles attacked feet first so she was able to fold her knees as she hit. She pushed off from the monster's pseudo-scales, just as another head tried to snap at her. The teeth were surprisingly white and numerous; nothing at all like a real snake. Out of its reach and another block ahead, Bubbles came in for a third strike, this time low and upwards, like an uppercut to the jaw.

Each blow slowed its speed. Bubbles could see it was having a hard time recovering its velocity down the street which gave Blossom time to carry three more cars to safety. Bubbles turned her gaze again to the monster, who was getting closer. She could see that three of its heads at the "front" was staring at her. Once they saw her looking back, they screamed an atonal challenge at her.

Bubbles took a deep breath. She didn't usually like to do this, but she had been told to slow it down. Bubbles opened his mouth and really screamed. The massive sonic blast shattered most of the windows as it traveled down the street, channeled by the buildings between her and the monster. Several cars were rocked on their side, and the city wildlife fled the sound. The effects on the monster were dramatic. Her sonic scream blasted back the snake heads that had been watching her, and the whole ball seemed to writhe in pain. It twitched a few moments, one or two heads looking around befuddled, as if just waking up. As it finally rolled to a halt, winded Bubbles flew up above the rolling mass to meet up with Buttercup.

Buttercup was looking cross, saying, "Whatever it uses for bones, they don't break easy. I can knock the head almost completely around, but I barely even phased it." Bubbles have the breath to respond, still sucking in air. Buttercup was rubbing her left ear in discomfort, which made Bubbles feel a little bad. The pair looked down at the still stunned monster as Blossom made her way up to them.

"Anything else to report? I hadn't time to watch you two." Blossom was looked a little tense, probably because she hadn't been able to supervise.

Bubbles spoke up between gulps of air, "The tangled body- is heavy! I hit the-center mass at just below- sonic speed. It barely slowed! It doesn't- seem to like my scream though." She chuckled, happy to see she had an advantage over the monster. The blue-eyed sister's levity fell, however, as the monster already began to recover. It looked agitated too, worse than before, with eleven heads now rising from the sphere of flesh. Several were lashing out at the surrounding buildings, caving in several walls without more challenge than an adult would have with a child's pinata.

Blossom was glaring down at the monster and took only a moment to react, "Bubbles, keep stunning it. Strafing runs with heat, Buttercup."

Buttercup looked happy with the attack plan and replied with a cheerful, "Got it!" Bubbles was glad she didn't have to use her vision. It had been more than a year now.

The girls broke from their mini-conference. Bubbles moved to the back of the monster, and took in a deep breath. As she did so, the snake-heads facing her, just two, suddenly retracted, and she screamed. The sound waves battered the snakes. As they extended again, the heads looked a little dazed, but not as affected as before.

Bubbles quickly tried to regain her breath enough for another blast, it took a few seconds. Seconds her sisters didn't have. Blossom and Buttercup were darting along the tops and sides of the snakes, burning red lasers lancing from their eyes. At first, it looked like the sustained heat was going to work against it. The scales on the snakes' coils were all extended, as if in pain. Even faster than before, the snake heads recovered from the aural assault and were snapping at the girls as they flew passed.

Bubbles screamed again as soon as she could. The snakes, all in concert once again, retracted to brace themselves against their massive knotted body. Dazed, they had trouble snapping at the girls flying above for at least a few seconds.

Bubbles could hear Blossom yelling, "Its scales are acting as heat sinks!" Bubbles looked towards where her sisters were aiming their fiery gaze and saw, sure enough, the scales were all fanning the air quickly, the air around hazy from heat.

Buttercup shouted, "I can fix that!" before sweeping down low over the coils on the snake. Bubbles, still trying to catch her breath, saw her sister grip one of burning hot scales and rip it from the monster's body.

She had removed three more of the scales before Blossom yelled, "Buttercup, move!" Two of the snake heads were roaring in pain and coming straight at her green-eyed sister. Buttercup pushed off from the monster, zooming straight up, as the two heads crashed into each other, a tangle of teeth and coils.

Buttercup shouted to Blossom, "Keep burning it! I'll make an empty patch!" and she zoomed down low for another lightning fast pass at the monster. Blossom continued to try to burn through the monster's skin near the growing empty patch, with precision unmatched by either of the other sisters, as Buttercup snatched up a scale on each of her six hyper-fast flights.

It was the seventh scale-grabbing flight that got Buttercup caught. It happened just as Bubbles was about to scream again. Not paying attention to the reptilian head watching Bubbles, Buttercup had no chance to dodge as it suddenly whipped around to swallow her whole. Bubbles shrieked, "BUTTERCUP NOOOOOOOO!" as monster snapped its mouth shut, and was subsequently knocked senseless by the sonic blow.

Buttercup was in serious trouble. Bubbles knew that while she and her sisters were strong enough to lift over ten tons, they were only a little stronger than a normal human when bound, unable to move. Blossom explained it once, saying that they didn't actually have super strength, but some sort of energy field that magnified their momentum. If the girls were bound, whether in metal shackles or a monster's claws, they couldn't break free unless they had wiggle room. Buttercup was currently moving down the gullet of the snake and being crushed by its esophagus. They had to save her fast, or she might suffer real damage.

Blossom was flying down to the head, Bubbles just ahead of her. Blossom shouted, "Pin-it-down! I-will-try-to-pry-its-mouth-open!" Bubbles sped up again, arms forward to push the senseless head down into the pavement below. She hit it hard, going faster than Mach two, breaking even more glass with the sonic boom.

Much like the center of its tangled mass, the snake-head's length was dense and there was only a very little give before she started to slow down. But not before the monster's neck and head were slammed into the pavement. The asphalt cracked like an egg. Blossom was already at its mouth, prying it open. "She-isn't-in-here. Try-to-brace-it-against-the-ground!" Blossom spoke in her ultrafast command voice. Bubbles complied, pushing harder against the ground, the street beneath nearly groaning with the sound of it. Bubbles worried she might damage some under-structure in the city, like a sewer line and wondered how much time they had before the other heads recovered.

Blossom's hands were gripping the top of the monster's jaw. Bubbles saw her sister pull hard, away from Bubbles. Blossom was trying to rip the top of the monster's head off. Bubbles, now aware of what her sister was doing, tried to keep the struggling coils beneath her tamed and trapped. Bubbles was thrown off suddenly as the snake coils she held began to thrash wildly and uncontrollably, in spite of her strength. She bounced off the ground then landed on the sidewalk, shocked for a moment, before looking to see what was happening. Blossom was thrown off as well, and could be seen tumbling through the air, and the entire monster looked like it was going into a massive, writing fit..

That's when Bubbles saw something odd down the neck of this coil where it met the big center of the beast. It looked like it was… bulging? Suddenly, a red light lanced out from the bulge, and began cutting through more of the flesh on the monster. It took only a few moments for Bubbles to guess what was going on. She raced raced over to the spot where Buttercup must have been.

All the other heads were also thrashing in pain, and didn't hassle Bubbles as she reached the growing tear in the snake's body. She gripped the edge of the burned meat and pulled hard, knowing that Buttercup was trying to lase her way out. A pink blur showed that Blossom had recovered, as the pink sister appeared to reach into the wound, ignoring the burning pain from the red light. The red light shut off. With a yank, Blossom pulled her green adorned sister free of the monster's neck. Bubbles and her sisters shot straight up, out of the monster's reach.

Buttercup, covered in slime and blue monster blood, was looking pleased as punch, shouting, "Ha! It doesn't have heatsinks on the inside, now does it! Hahaha!" She zoomed over to one of the other heads, now recovering from the pain. Stopping to hover just in front of its face, she challenged, "Come on! Eat me now! I'll eviscerate you from the inside!"

The snake-head monster was not stupid enough to take the bait, having learned its lesson. It stared at her with much trepidation and with, Bubbles thought, a little fear. One of the other heads came swinging in, trying to slam against Buttercup as she sat still, and the green sister turned to face it. With a well-timed punch, she deflected the head, and levitated up several feet, turning again to face the challenged snake head. Bubbles and Blossom were well out of range of the other heads, watching their sister and waiting for when something went wrong. When the monster clearly wasn't going to eat them again, they knew they had this monster beat.

It took them another hour but the girls kept the upper hand as the sun dropped, taking enough scales off to use their heat vision on the body of the beast. Bubbles thought it was quiet, slow, brutal work. She hated it, but it had to be done.

With little real resistance left, it wasn't long before it was feebly swinging its heads in its death throes before finally stilling. Bubbles and Buttercup remained in the area to clean up and move the body back into the ocean where it came from. From there, it would either sink further into the ocean, or one of the companies along the docks would try to gather its body to see if any part could be sold. Blossom headed off to survey the rest of the city for criminals. The little criminal element that existed in Townsville usually tried to make their moves when the monsters attacked, as the whole city was usually distracted.

All in all, it was not until after sundown at night that the girls could make it back home, tired and unwilling to go to the effort of cooking. They stopped off at a Buttercup's favorite Chinese restaurant, taking enough home for the whole family. The house was exactly as they left it, their books and art and keyboard abandoned.

Each of them took a shower, with Buttercup's shower longer than her sisters, for good reason. After that, they went downstairs to get dinner ready.

Bubbles and Buttercup went about the kitchen, setting up the dinner table while Blossom went to get the Professor. The Professor would forget to eat most nights if the girls didn't keep an eye out for him. It was family tradition any more, to eat dinner together, since the Professor had so much work lately. Bubbles knew whatever he was working on stressed him out, because each night his hair would be mussed and oily, as he ran his hand through it.

She could hear him come up from his underground lab, and he appeared in the dining room doorway, "Hey, girls. How went the fight?" How messed up his hair, Bubbles rated, was about a three on a ten point scale, so his work had been going well. He did look tired, however. In the past four years, he had changed more in appearance than the girls had. He there were tired lines under his eyes, a noticeable stubble growing, and there was even a hint of grey in his hair. Work had really picked up in the last year and a half. He was usually working seven days a week anymore, from seven in the morning to ten at night. There were bags under his eyes, and his lab coat was slightly askew and wrinkled. Bubbles wished that he could get more sleep, but more selfishly, she wished that he could spend more time with them.

Buttercup spoke up first, as she doled out the Chinese food, "Good! It looked like a giant ball of tangled snakes, and was nearly too wide to fit down Parsnips Avenue. We took it down after the snake thing found out that it's dinner bit back." She grinned to herself, still very pleased. She didn't sit down herself until everyone had their food.

The Professor swallowed the bit of eggroll he had been eating, and said with a proud chuckle, "Ha, that's my girls. There's nothing you can't handle." They all sat and ate quietly for a moment, savoring his praise, when Bubbles realized she nearly forgot the big news of the day.

"Oooh! Professor, you got mail today!" She paused, and leaned forward, speaking conspiratorially, "Mail from Citysville." She glanced over at the kitchen counter to where the mail sat, still unread.

Professor Utonium frowned a bit, "Hmm… I sent that data dump to their lab almost six months ago. What else could they want?" He put down his fork and stood, moving to the counter to take a look.

Bubbles continued, "No, it's not from Citysville lab. It's from the Chief of Police!" She was a little excited to see what it could be for. Her best, most optimistic, guess was that it was a request for the girls to come back and help with a problem and that the law banning their powers was no longer in effect. She couldn't help but hope it was something so positive. She left the sour thinking to Blossom and Buttercup.

The Professor looked a little uneasy when he saw that Bubbles was right. With a little effort, he opened it, and pulled out the folded up documents, what looked like two or three sheets worth. Their maker began scanning the note, his face turning paler after a few seconds.

The girls asked in sync, "What is it, Professor?"

It took him a moment to respond, still reading the letter, before looking over to them, as if remembering they were there. There was silence.

He finally spoke, a little faint, "I have been summoned to talk to one of their officers next week. You three are requested to come. They might have a few question for you as well, it says."

Dinner finished in almost silence, and the girls headed upstairs for bed. Bubbles looked down at the drawings she had left abandoned. She realized what today's animal must have been. She was right from the beginning. Today was definitely a cat. A black cat. Now, Bubbles knew plenty of black cats, and liked them a lot. None of them ever brought her bad luck. Until now.

Bubbles settled into her spot on the bed, holding Octi, something she only did to ease herself when times were rough, anymore. She couldn't sleep for a long time. All she could think about was the Professor's words and the letter.

Whatever the police chief wanted, good or bad, the letter still seemed bad. The girls were returning to the town of Citysville.


	2. The Town of Citysvile

They were trapped in the car for over an hour. Words could not express how boring it was. Well, that's not true, thought Buttercup. She could have spent pages and pages describing how dull the trip was, but her mechanical pencil ran out of lead ten minutes into the trip to Citysville. So she was left watching Bubbles draw or watch Blossom "study" her textbook.

It had taken days for the Professor to decide it was okay for them to skip classes. He was worried that they might miss something important. At least, that is what he claimed. Because each of the girls had different teachers, he had to call each of them and make sure they were all doing fine. Of course they were doing fine, Buttercup thought to herself. The girls hadn't needed to actually pay attention in class for years. Buttercup didn't pay attention any more, that was for sure. She would spend the class writing her stories until lunch, then spend the afternoon doing her homework. The Powerpuff Girls had been created with more intelligence than most ten-year-olds. Sure, it had taken them a few years to actually understand how the world worked, but even Bubbles didn't struggle in classes now.

Buttercup stared out the window of the car, watching the streets pass by. Even now they were hitting the outskirts of Citysville, and she felt depressed already. Not a soul in the car forgot their days in this retched town. They were passing over the bridge just a now, rebuilt and busy as ever since the girls had destroyed it without thinking years ago. The thought sent a twinge of guilt through her. With a sigh, she asked, "How long until we get there?" She just had to break the silence somehow.

"According to MapTrips, another ten minutes." Blossom spoke without once looking up from her book. "You need to take the Lexington exit in three more miles, Professor."

The Professor looked towards them and smiled, "Thanks, Blossom… I want you girls to not worry. This is probably a simple matter. Who knows, I might have forgot to pay for a parking ticket." He chuckled lightheartedly, trying to ease their nerves. None of them had the will to tell him that each time he reassured them, they felt more and more apprehensive.

Blossom spoke up again, "I still think it would have been prudent to contact a lawyer." She turned a page and highlighted some passage, then marked the page with a sticky note.

The Professor scoffed, "No, no. I don't think that is necessary. Really Blossom, it will be okay." The turn signal flicked on, and they changed lanes. "You agree, don't you, Bubbles?"

Bubbles paused for a moment to gather her thoughts and chirped up, "Of course! Maybe they want you to help with one of their cases! You might become a consultant to solve their crimes! And a TV show! Detective Professor Utonium!" She giggled at her own ideas.

The Professor laughed with her. "Hahaha, maybe you are right. Wouldn't that be fun, girls?" His voice sounded a little strangled as he nearly missed the exit, swerving to hit the Lexington exit. They did, barely. The traffic was thick here as people went about their daily lives. When the Professor made his lane change, the car behind honked twice, insistently.

Buttercup languished. "Ugh. I hate this town. Everyone here is rude." She sighed, speaking up, "We will be lucky if we can get out of here by nightfall. Five hours or more without being able to do anything more than walk." She shuddered and crossed her arms, continuing to glare out of the window.

Now navigating the complicated streets of Citysville downtown, it took them seven minutes to spot the CPD, but another ten to find a parking spot. It cost ten bucks to park there for an hour or less. Buttercup couldn't bring herself to look at the prices for longer.

They had to walk two blocks to get back to the police department where Daniel Mitternach no doubt waited for them. It was relatively uneventful, but one taxi driver spotted the Powerpuff girls, and nearly hit the car in front of him before braking. Buttercup was pretty sure she stepped in gum on the way as well. The station was seven stories tall, with scuffed, dirty steps leading up to the old and beaten looking entrance. The professor opened the door for the sisters, and they stepped in.

The lobby was a long room, filled with chairs lining the walls. There were a few counters for people to line up at, with two counters open at the moment, one manned by an older ex-cop looking guy, and the other by a mousy young woman. There were over a dozen or so people inside, several sitting down in the chairs, and a few more waiting in line. The interior walls were made of a dark wood paneling until about four feet up. Above that was mostly glass, allowing those in the lobby to see further into the police department. The sound of ringing phones and talking officers filled those back areas. Buttercup was created at 3' 2''. Not having grown an inch since birth and not being allowed to float meant that she couldn't see nearly as far as she could hear.

It looked surprisingly like it did in the TV shows. Dirty, with checkered floors, the lights slightly dim, and there was somber feeling to the building, as if this place had seen its fair share of anger and sadness but had grown hardened to all the emotions. Buttercup felt it would be a great place to write a story about.

No one noticed the Professor or girls at first, but she and her sisters could sense a slow change infect the people as they stood in the doorway. First the people sitting in chairs noticed them, then the man at the desk. As he picked up his phone suddenly, telling the woman he was helping to wait a moment, the whispers started. They were slow but, eventually, they spread, Two or three heads appeared in the glass further into the station, all of them wanting to take a look at the famous Powerpuff Girls and the Professor that made them. Buttercup considered a moment, and remembered their reputation here in the town of Citysville. Perhaps the infamous Powerpuff Girls would have been a better description. Not that she cared. The town could rot for all she minded. It was a horrible place.

The whispering went on for a few minutes as the Professor got in line to announce his arrival. The murmurs were far too numerous for Buttercup to pick up on them all, but many of them had the same awe and fear filled tones. "The Powerpuff Girls…", "…they destroyed the Bridge, didn't they?...", "…such monsters…", "… so small to have defeated…", "… that demon-eyed leader of theirs…" Buttercup glanced sharply at Blossom, to see if she had noticed the last comment. Blossom didn't once bat her rose colored eyes. Buttercup hadn't ever really noticed before how… not-human Blossom's eyes were. Was that what people saw when they looked at their pictures in the news?

The lines hadn't cleared more than a person each when a middle aged man came from the back of the department, opening a glass door to the lobby and holding it opened. He was wearing a nice button up shirt, khaki pants, little cellphone holster, along with his firearm holster. He seemed a little hardened, like he worked the streets before becoming the chief of police. He had a forced amiable smile on to keep up good appearances for the public. He looked at the professor and asked, "Professor Gary Utonium? Please come on back. Sorry to keep you waiting." He seemed reluctant to look at Buttercup and her sisters, only once glancing at them before turning about to lead them back into the station. The whispers died as they were lead back to the man's office. On the door was a metal plaque,

"Chief of Police

Daniel Mitternach"

He opened the door and offered them to enter first. They all stepped in and looked aroud. The shelves along the wall were lined with pictures, awards and books. Buttercup wasn't so interested, but most of them looked like books on law. The walls without book cases were windows as well, letting him survey the floor, and allowing the officers to look in. The desk was nice and big, and there was a comfortable set of chairs this side of the desk, as if for meetings with other officers were common here. He closed the door behind him, and the whispers picked up again beyond the door, but not quite loud enough for Buttercup to pick up on.

The Chief of Police turned to face the Professor, and offered his hand, "It's good to meet you, Professor Utonium. I'm Chief of Police Daniel Mitternach. How are you doing?"

The Professor shook his hand, responding with a little nervous, "Oh, good to meet you too. I am good. Just good. How are you?" He let go of the officer's hand, and asked, almost as an add-on question, "So what is this about, officer?"

Mitternach motioned the Professor to one of the chairs, "Please, have a seat, and call me Daniel. This is not meant as a serious inquiry." He suddenly looked down at the girls who were crowded around the Professor defensively, as if remembering them, "If you girls want to wait outside, I am sure a few nice police men can show you around and show you what important work policemen do all day." He smiled very friendly at them, but they recognized what he was trying to do instantly.

As the girls and Professor took a seat for themselves, Buttercup scoffed while Blossom spoke up to cover it, "No, no, thank you for the offer, Mr. Mitternach, but we are all very interested to hear what you want to ask about. I assure you we won't be any trouble."

He seemed a little taken aback by her eloquence, and Bubbles added on, "We are here to support the Professor. I wouldn't mind learning what police officers do after we finish up, if there is time!"

If Buttercup hadn't been so wary of the whole business, she wouldn't have seen the chief's eyes narrow at something Bubbles said. Buttercup wouldn't have felt Blossom stiffen either. She must have noticed Mitternach's reaction as well. "Well, that's fine, that's fine. You may take a seat as well then. And we will try to settle this quickly." He spoke diplomatically, while he moved behind his desk to sit down in his comfortable looking chair. "Sorry to call you out here rather suddenly, hope it wasn't too much trouble."

The Professor answered his pleasantries a little more easily this time, "Oh, no trouble at all. It was no trouble." Only a little more easily this time. There was an awkward pause.

Mitternack finally went through with his business, "Well, I am sure you are wondering about why I called you here. Actually it has to do with your… girls. I am curious. When was their birth date?"

Buttercup was taken aback by the question. Why would he want to know when they were born? She listened to the Professor stutter through the easy question, adding, "Why would you-"

He was interrupted by Mitternack, "Could you produce their birth certificates at a future date? Just in case we need them?" Buttercup watched the chief of police. His question was soft and amiable, but Buttercup didn't buy it. This sounded like a trap.

The Professor looked shocked, "I-… No. They don't have any. My girls weren't- ah, conceived in the traditional sense. I never had birth certificates made up." The last words sounded pained, as if he knew how it sounded. Buttercup wasn't particularly worried about it. She didn't care for bureaucratic paperwork crap. However, a quick glance at her sisters said something different.

Blossom was blank faced, her poker face she kept when she knew something that the others didn't. Buttercup hated that face. It meant her sister was trying to shield them from the worst. It only occurred when there was something more serious than monsters going on. Family issues and adult matters were the only reasons that expression ever appeared upon Blossom's face.

Bubbles was looking a little hurt. Buttercup wondered if Bubbles expected more from the Professor. Buttercup felt, slightly, like that herself, in retrospect. She knew that his work kept him busy… but he didn't have time to make up even a birth certificate for each of them?

Chief Mitternach's face was probably the most telling, however. Buttercup did not want to know what his knowing and unhappy look might mean. However, he spoke anyway, "That's unfortunate. So the girls have no mother? Excuse me for asking this rather harsh question. Are your 'girls'… are they human?"

Buttercup gasped, about to rise out of the chair. It took all of her control to restrain herself. What was he insinuating? Blossom's voice piped up, suddenly alarmed. "Profes- Father. Father, we should get a lawyer." The amount of concern in her voice was stronger than usual. Buttercup looked at Blossom. She was pale and her face was full of concern, but her pink eyes told Buttercup it was all calculated. Everyone was looking at her, as she continued, "Really. A lawyer, right now, Father. Please." Father? What? Why did Blossom's eyes hide an edge of panic even as she acted like a child?

The Professor seemed completely unaware of Blossom's Authority tone hidden in a stereotypical childlike voice. "Not right now, Blossom. I know you are concerned, but I can answer this question." He looked to Mitternach and confidently said, "Yes, absolutely. My girls are absolutely human."

Mitternach nodded, the air about him more predatory, more dangerous. "Would mind that we draw some blood, just to make sure? I believe you were the one that said they weren't conceived naturally. It is standard federal law, and international law, that we make sure that any and all created creatures are not dangerous."

"What did you call us!" Buttercup had enough. She was not going to be called a 'creature' by this man. She and her sisters didn't deserve that.

Blossom snapped at her, "Buttecup!" but she was not listening.

Buttercup rose above the useless piece of crap that called her a creature. "We save lives! We stop monsters on a daily basis! Just because we are different we don't deserve to be treated like sub-humans- or like children! I have done more to protect my hometown in two days than you have in your life! How many families have you rescued from a monster bent on destroying them?" She stared down at Daniel Mitternach, hovering above the desk, seconds from showing him the kinds of things she could do.

Mitternach's eyes narrowed. He backed out of the desk, and stood, his hands resting on the firearm at his side. "Ma'am. I am going to ask you calmly, once, to restrain your powers. This is a city where all super powers are banned. As you know. If I give the signal, my men will attempt to restrain you. I doubt they could succeed… but I am hoping it won't come to that." There was a smattering of metal clicks from outside the room. Buttercup glanced behind her, towards the window that revealed the rest of the station. There were no less than a dozen officers standing and staring at the police chief's office. Some of them were plainclothes, some looked like desk jockeys. All of them had their firearms out and pointed at Buttercup.

Blossom spoke her name one more time, "Buttercup." The emerald-themed Powerpuff girl took a breath, and slowly drifted down to the ground. Once she landed, there was more than one sigh of relief from beyond the room. The Professor had been mute for the entire event, looking like a deer in the headlights. Bubbles looked troubled, but was letting Blossom handle it.

Mitternach spoke again. "Thank you for your compliance with the law." He turned his hard, cold gaze on the Professor. "I suggest you follow your 'girl's' advice. Get a lawyer. I won't be getting a hold of you next time." The Professor still couldn't find words, his blocky build stiff with shock, or fear, or both. Mitternach wasn't finished. "I suggest you find a lawyer familiar with child care laws, Professor Utonium… and a lawyer also familiar with the Neo-Tokyo Protocol. The federal government will contact you soon. You can show yourselves out, no doubt. Have a good day."

There was a pregnant pause, as they all gathered they were being dismissed. The Professor stood up sharply and nodded. He turned around, stiff, and Buttercup's sisters hopped out of the chairs they were in. The Professor opened the door, and the girls stepped out. The police station was silent. There were two phones ringing, but all eyes were on the Professor and the girls. Actually, most of their eyes were on Buttercup, who ignored them. All of their eyes held fear or anger. Buttercup glanced over at Blossom, leading them out of the station. "Blossom," she whispered, "What's the Neo-Tokyo Protocol?"

Blossom gave a terse, short shake of her head. "Not now." She was staring straight ahead, until a pair of people walked into sight.

They stood still at the side of the hallway ahead of them, blocking off another hall that looked like it lead to some conference rooms. It was a pair of people, a woman and a man. They both wore off-black suits and carried leather briefcases. The woman was tall and had long black hair, a sharp pointy nose, and eyes like a hawk. Her black eyes followed the girls as they approached. Her mouth was a harsh, straight line. The other man was smiling like the cat imagining each way it might catch the canary. His eyes never looked towards the girls, instead staring out at the nervous officers at their desk, as if he enjoyed the sight. His green eyes were sunken and, along with his thin blonde hair cut military short, made him look like a corpse waiting to happen, though he must have been younger than the severe woman. He was also shorter than her by a foot.

The girls stared down the hawk woman until they passed by them. They left the police department, and once the front door closed, Buttercup could hear a chatter start again, everyone relieved to see the girls to leave. Buttercup could hear them all clearly talking about those strange, dangerous things, the Powerpuff Girls.

Buttercup opened her mouth again to speak, but Blossom cut her off again, "Not yet."

They walked the rest of the way to the car in silence, the professor still stiff and unresponsive. They got into the car, and he started the engine. He didn't pull out of the parking spot however. Instead, he leaned forward and rested his head on the steering wheel. He was clearly frazzled beyond words. None of them spoke for a minute. Bubbles finally said something, the only thing she could manage. "At least we didn't have to stay here for five hours."

Buttercup sighed, exasperated and still confused. The comment seemed to have prompted something from the Professor, who finally put the car into gear, and started to leave the Town of Citysville. Buttercup wondered what in the world was going on. Why was the chief of police in Citysville concerned suddenly with the humanity of the Powerpuff Girls?


	3. Bridging the Gap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Exposition train! Sorry, gotta set the playing field for you all, and an initial infoblast helps me sprinkle more in over time. I've yet to figure out a more artful slide into my universe, but I do try to mitigate some of the worst of it later.

No one said anything else until the Professor had successfully navigated back onto the highway out of Citysville. Buttercup sat sullenly sulking to her left, while Bubbles tried to search for words that would break the uncomfortable was nothing she could do now, and her calculated panic didn't work in the office, since the Professor hadn't listened.

Blossom pulled out the English textbook out before they even left the parking garage. She was nearly finished editing this chapter for errors, and it was weighing on her mind.

Blossom had gotten the idea to edit her textbooks when she saw a small text in the back of her first grade science book with the words, "Please contact us at the following number if any errors in typing are found." Since then, she has always spent the early part of the school year scouring the books for errors, of which there were many. She would have thought they would better edit these books, as they are for use by young minds easily mislead. It was a nice thing to be able to warn them of their mistakes.

They were crossing the Citysville Bridge when the silence was broken. It was the Professor who broke the silence first. Once she heard what the Professor had to say, Blossom wished she had been the one to break the silence. "Well… it's only ten o'clock. I might be able to get you girls back to class in time for lunch and recess. That sounds nice, right?"

The Professor's words were weak, but warm, an attempt to brighten the mood. He said the wrong words this time.

Blossom heard a sharp reply to her left. "We don't take recess anymore." Buttercup was determinedly staring out of the window. Blossom hadn't realized how sullen her sister was feeling. This could end poorly. Blossom quickly tried to think of the words to derail this before it got out of hand. She was too slow, as focused in her school book work as she was.

The Professor spoke up, glancing up at the triplets with his rear view mirror. "What do you mean? I though Pokey Oaks Elementary had recess for up to the fifth grade." He was correctly informed, Blossom wanted to say, but it wasn't what needed to be said. She needed something nice to say before-

Buttercup spat, "Yes, all elementary students get recess! We just don't go anymore. None of our classmates-"

"Buttercup!" Blossom tried to interject, to cut off her sister before she said something she would regret.

Buttercup was clearly boiling. She was being held down by the seatbelt, and it might have been the only thing that restrained her from shouting louder. "None of our classmates want to play with five year non-humans who can beat them at everything! So we all stay inside and I pray for another monster to appear!"

There was a silence. Both the Professor and Bubbles tried to speak up at the same time, "I didn't know it was-" "It's not so bad as she-" They both stopped at the same time.

Blossom finally spoke up, thinking she might have found something actually productive to talk about. "Professor, do you know any really good lawyers?" It was weak, but nothing more could be said on this topic that would be nice. Buttercup scoffed disgustedly and Blossom even heard the Professor sigh.

He sounded wistful and hurt, far more hurt than Blossom calculated he would be, "I know you are trying to help Blossom… but maybe we should talk about this right now." Blossom didn't say anything, still surprised by the amount of pain in his voice. Something must have been said that hit a nerve. Blossom watched the Professor in the reflection of the rear view mirror. He looked dejected, watching the road and refusing to look up at the girls. Blossom, as brilliant as she was, never quite understood the Professor.

Beside her, Buttercup fidgeted uncomfortably, perhaps the weight of her own shouting now realized.

Buttercup was the first one to speak up, in any case. "No. No… I… I'm sorry. I shouldn't… have shouted… Maybe we should talk about more… pressing problems than my playtime gripes." The apology looked like it physically hurt Buttercup, but Blossom knew Buttercup must have noticed the same discomfort in the Professor.

Buttercup might be more rash and angry than her sisters but she didn't like hurting her family. After her struggling apology, she added, "What is the Neo-Tokyo Protocol?"

Blossom closed her book. She had finished editing the chapter during the moments of awkward silence. No need to let a good moment go to waste, she felt. "Do you want to answer Professor? Or should I?" She felt herself enter teaching mode. And anything to distract from Buttercup's outburst while providing knowledge would be the nice thing to do.

The Professor looked up at her in the mirror and answered, "You know about the Protocol? Go ahead, Blossom, it has been a while for me." He still sounded like he was reliving some painful memories of the past, which Blossom assumed is why he let her speak instead.

With the permission to lecture given, she began, "We really need to start with the destruction of the original Tokyo before we start on the Protocol. Tokyo, Japan, was destroyed after the turn of the millenium, by a massive influx of uncontrolled monsters, giant machines, and human error. The city had always been plagued by these monsters, mostly because of the lax regulations put on scientists working with dangerous technology. It was a precedent set by the Japanese government itself, as a way to encourage technological growth within their own nation, and to entice economic growth in a radical change of policy after World War Two. As more and more corporations put their research and development centers in the capital of Japan, science discoveries underwent an explosive growth factor around the world, but especially in Japan."

"Most of this research partially culminated in the electronics boom in the eighties and the bust in the nineties, but more relevantly, created the monster crisis of this century. There had been a few issues of loose monsters in the city in the ought, most recognizably, Deuzilla, but it all got out of hand at the turn of the millennium. Eventually, a cascade of tragedy unfolded. One escaped monster created by cobbling together previous monsters would get loose and destroy a nearby lab that was debugging autonomous attack robots which would blow up a containment field for a highly mutagenic virus. By the time the city was leveled, it was just a simple fighting ground for monsters and machines and nearly ten million people were lost in Tokyo and the surrounding areas."

Blossom's sense of the dramatic gave her reason to pause on that note just for its significance, as well as so that she could draw in breath. All of this information was fairly common knowledge, though the details had probably never been explained so thoroughly to her sisters. Modern elementary school books seemed to gloss over the details, to protect the innocence of youth. Blossom continued, awe inspiring moment now past.

"Because the monsters were an obvious threat to the remains of Japan and the rest of the world, especially nations Asian nations, something had to be done. The United Nations voted unanimously and a unique task force was created to handle these rogue monsters, the Global Regiment for Extrahuman Management, or GREM, for short. The largest military force ever formed that was independent of any one nation's control. While GREM worked to prevent the spread of monsters and machines from the epicenter of Tokyo, the UN started to work on the Protocol.

"The Neo-Tokyo Protocol, named for the city planned to be rebuilt on Tokyo's remains, established clear and global law that limited scientific research, specifically in the subjects of chemistry, biology and automated robotics. Basically anything functioned without the human element involved was considered under review. Any corporation working with the reviewed subjects had to get certified by one of the five-member councils set all around the world. A five member review boards were set up in every major country, with smaller countries grouped together to form one council. Any laboratory working without the correct certification was to be closed down, immediately. The company involved with the lab is severely fined, as well as the nation of origin in some cases, and usually there is a serious threat of jail for the scientists. The penalties for transgressions are far worse for those whose experiments get out of hand. Jail time for a minimum of ten years for all scientists involved is standard, if no one dies. The penalty of death for scientists whose work kill people is not an uncommon verdict.

"The most significant details of the Protocol were two important details. It empowered GREM to be the enforcer for all "out-of-control" forces unleashed by any lab anywhere on the planet, whether the nation was part of the UN or not. It also only gave three years for all certifications to be ratified before enforcement began. Because the Neo-Tokyo Protocol was codified in such a short time, it gave government and corporate labs an exceedingly short period of time to be certified by these councils, which had to be composed of five members each of a different nationality and with no financial ties to any national government outside of the UN."

Blossom paused again for another breath, and to let her sisters absorb the information. She didn't know how long it would take them to catch up, but waited at ten seconds before she continued.

"This time crunch was intense, as there was a burgeoning advance in science everywhere at the turn of the millennium. Three years was simply not enough to ratify every lab on Earth. So one of two things happened. The labs disappeared underground, usually literally, or the lab work was abandon. Many of the labs that went underground and rogue were government works, and others were ones that would never, under any circumstances, be certified under the new laws. When a lab was abandon, however, one could not just board up the windows. If the labs were later found to contain contraband science ill-kept, they would be persecuted under the full extent of the law. So most of these labs simply destroyed all of the physical aspects of their work, keeping the data they could. The rest of them, on the other hand, simply destroyed evidence that could trace the work back to their origins and then illegally dumped their work. Of course, dumping the works within a nation was also extremely illegal, so most of these works with mutagens, viruses, monsters and experiments were simply dumped into international waters.

"A fraction of these experiments survived in any real capacity… but the number of nations and businesses doing this was in the tens of thousands. The ocean beds all around the world have become the breeding grounds for all forms of monsters. And these monsters are what wash up on the peaceful shores of Townsville."

She had tried to nicely explain all of this before to her sisters, but they seemed uninterested in the topic. History has always been a passion for Blossom. Eventually, she stopped wasting her time trying to teach her sisters, and spent the time reading more. They seemed to think this was nicer.

She was done for now, letting her sisters absorb all of her important information. During her long-winded but essential description, she stopped paying attention to her fellow travelers. She looked to each side, both of her sisters appearing deep in thought, the green sister distinctly annoyed, and the blue sister distinctly troubled. The Professor appeared almost sick with worry. No doubt he was the only one in the car who just how much trouble he might be in. Honestly, the word "trouble" was twenty magnitudes too small for how serious things had become.

Buttercup was the first to speak. "So… are you done for now?" She seemed hesitant to ask, as if worried Blossom would snap at her for interrupting.

Blossom nodded, "Do you have any questions?" She was ready to answer all of their questions about the massive controversy these councils caused, along with the existence of GREM. She had read more than one book on this topic, considering how relevant it was to their monster fighting work.

Buttercup spoke again, slowly at first, "So… let me get this straight… The Professor is being persecuted for the creation of monsters and might be executed for creating us?"

Before Blossom could answer such oversimplification of the topic, Bubbles added on, "And even if we prove him innocent of violating the Neo-Tokyo Protocol, and we are declared non-monsters… the Professor could still face time in jail for not properly taking care of us as children?"

Blossom was stunned. At first she was annoyed about the pair of them taking all of her words and breaking them down into two sentences… but she hadn't thought about what Bubbles was saying. "I suggest you find a lawyer familiar with child care laws, Professor Utonium." Blossom didn't question her memory, it was perfect.

Oh, by all that is… they were insidious… evil… brilliant, was all Blossom could think. Even if the girls could remove every allegation that the Powerpuff Girls were monsters created in violation of the Neo-Tokyo Protocol and prove that they were young human girls with a few extra talents, the Professor would just face another trail for child abuse, neglect and whatever else they could imagine.

The Professor spat a few words out. "I… I need to stop for a moment." They were at a stretch of highway between Townsville and Citysville, an exit to a gas station and McEatie's just a mile away. They were still a good twenty minutes from home.

Even Blossom's massive lexicon of words couldn't adequately describe the horrible green color that was plastered over the Professor's visage. She didn't know the human skin could actually turn that color. They got on the exit ramp to the stop in the middle of nowhere. Violating more than one traffic law, the Professor turned rapidly into the gas station parking lot and thrashed at the seat belt release to get free. The driver's car door was thrown open violently, and he dashed into the gas station, presumably to the bathroom.

Abandoned and alone in the car, front driver's door still wide open, the Powerpuff Girls sat. They looked at each other, and away. None of them could summon up any words that would minimize the terrifying picture painted by the simple meeting this morning. Blossom had woken at four in the morning with a dark, knotted stomach, like she knew that today would end up being one of her worst, but her mind hadn't made this jump. She'd been more concerned with something the Professor may have failed to deal with at work. At worst, Blossom thought they were going to be asked to pay back the money for destroying the bridge, three years later.

It seemed like hours before the Professor came back. Blossom's internal clock told her it was more like six minutes, but cold hard logic was difficult to face in times of immense stress, even for the ever-mindful Blossom.

The Professor's face and hair were completely wet, though there appeared to have been attempts to dry both. He looked like a man reluctantly facing his execution, and trying to keep on a strong face for the press. Or, more likely, he was trying to keep a strong face for his girls.

He got in the car and closed the door. The car had been left running in the interim, and none of the sisters had the willpower to turn it off, each of them thinking their own dreaded thoughts.

It was another long dead silence as they got back on the highway. Traveling back to Townsville, it wasn't until they were nearly about to get off the highway a few miles from their home that Blossom finally spoke up. "Professor… I think I about of a few lawyers that can help on this. They do Neo-Tokyo Protocol cases like this. There was one, Cyrus Standsfeld that has a very good record." She swallowed, and Bubbles picked up where Blossom left off.

"We can get another lawyer for whatever else they bring up. We can get a lot of support from Townsville as well. We can-"

Buttercup cut her off, "We should just leave. Run and be gone forever. We can grab our stuff at home, and just fly away. Nothing is irreplaceable. Only grab the vitals, and we can fly you away, Professor. Leave them all to rot."

No one spoke anything. All of them considered the idea. As they turned down the street towards their home, Blossom could hardly believe that she was considering Buttercup's illegal plans, but the odds were calculating in it's favor. They rounded the bend that would put their home into sight and saw the miniature tanks, barricades and soldiers crowding the entire block.

They were all hard, almost brutal-looking, men in armor that fit them like an exoskeleton, with metal plates adorning the entire surface. Each carried long-barreled rifles that Blossom knew the name for, but it didn't matter. They were energy rifles designed to slaughter the most dangerous monsters in the world. The minitanks had cannons that looked capable of destroying any one of the homes along the street, but maneuverable to move through any terrain. A particularly large number of them gathered around one house in particular. The Utonium home. Each of the men had four large white letters emblazoned upon their back. G.R.E.M.

The Professor, already long spotted by the men, couldn't very well back away and go back the way they came. He rolled towards the barrier, an agony on his face. He stopped next to the large sign saying:

"All traffic is to be inspected.

Slow Now."

A GREM soldier stepped up to the Professor's slowly descending window and said, "License and Regist-" He stopped. The young but serious-faced man looked at the Professor's face, then into the back seat where the sisters sat.

He took several steps back all at once, his rifle suddenly gripped and ready. While the weapon wasn't quite yet pointed at the car, the threat was obvious. He shouted, "All of you step out of the car! Hands over your head, with no sudden movements! Now!"

Blossom saw a transformation flash over the soldiers milling about. Guns were leveled in the direction of the car. The soldier shouted again, "Step out of the car, NOW!"

Blossom should have guessed that they would move this quickly. The Powerpuff Girls and their Professor were now being taken into custody of the Global Regiment for Extrahuman Management.


End file.
